Rafe Mair Online

I find myself deeply troubled about the burka issue. Should women be allowed to cover their faces in public? After re-reading that line I wonder why the hell in 2010 I would feel it necessary to consider this issue. Why would anyone dive a fiddler’s fart about what women wear?

They do in France where the Parliament has passed a law forbidding this practice. Here’s what President Sarkozy had to say: “The problem of the burka is not a religious problem. This is an issue of a woman’s freedom and dignity. This is not a religious symbol. It is a sign of subservience; it is a sign of lowering. I want to say solemnly, the burka is not welcome in France.” Continue Reading »

I get very impatient with the one-liners, the slogans of both the left and right. They are usually backed up with an argument that’s as shallow as the slogan.

The federal government is going to review their hiring policy over a recent employment issue and the essence of this is revisiting “affirmative action”. This is, of course, making employment possibilities available to people who, for one reason or another, have been disadvantaged.

The mantra is “a person should be hired on his/her abilities, not the colour of their skin or their gender”. Then the Bakke case or one like it is trotted out – Bakke was the white that couldn’t get into a medical school because his place was taken by a black without Bakke’s qualifications. And, without doubt, this sort of unfairness does happen.

Let’s examine that word “fair”. Continue Reading »